Kyla’s Secret was officially declared a winner just before midnight at 50,170 words! Between that and our new 2003 Cadillac Seville, life is good. :) Wish I could stay up and write more details about the Caddy, but I’m beat. I slept horribly yesterday. Don’t know why, but I kept waking up constantly. Don’t remember much in the way of dreams other than a spider on the wall and an ant trail on the floor. Maybe I was just a bit wound up cuz now that I finished the lower dosages of my medication, I started the 75 mcg of levothyroxine and worried about possible side effects like a racy heart, but I was fine. 

For now, I will just say it saddens me that despite how mean and horrible the racist comment was made by the old Clipper’s coach, how can we call ourselves The Land of the Free when we can sue someone for words? Don’t actions speak louder than words. Words may be cruel, false and unfair, but my God! Words are still just words and words don’t mean shit without the actions to back them up. You know, sort of like telling someone you’re going to slap them vs. actually doing it? 

Not only is it a shame that we can be sued for the words we say, but once again, here’s another classic case of those shitty dual standards we love to have seeing that the black guy who said oughta have an all-black league never got sued for his own racist comment. It’s pretty sad, that not only do we not have the freedom to express ourselves just because others may not want to hear it, but that if you’re black it’s ok to spew all the hate you want. Then people like me who are sick of the unfairness are automatically labeled “racist.” 

I’m not going to apologize or feel ashamed or guilty for my own beliefs and opinions either. I don’t care if they’re in the “norm” or not. They are what they are. Period. :) 

Later… 

Went for my first ride in our new 2003 Cadillac Seville that looks brand spanking new, and wow! Just WOW! I know that most newer cars from 2005 on up have the same bells and whistles since they started implementing most luxury features in new vehicles, but after years and years of driving old shit, just the power windows/locks and a working AC is sheer luxury to us! As I told Tom before we got this car, we no longer live like bums, but we still drive like bums (even though he drives and I ride), LOL. But now we have a car that goes with this park. I still cannot believe we live in a beautiful home in a luxury park and own a luxury car! The only thing I don’t like about my new posh existence is the expenses. The space rent, mortgage and car payments total around $1200 a month. Once the house and car are paid off we’ll save about $500 a month. 

The car was 5k and Tom was told by the loan lady that he was actually getting quite a deal on it since it’s worth more like 7k these days. It was 45k brand new. We got it on loan so that we’d still have cash on hand for emergencies. Just because you can pay for things like cars and carpet outright, doesn’t mean you should if you don’t want to drain most of your savings. We’ll pay it off before the 3 years are up, though. 

The car isn’t in mint condition but it’s pretty damn close. We need to get the passenger window fixed because the mechanism that drives it up and down doesn’t work. It also needs a chip filled in in the windshield, and a new battery. The Ford has a new deluxe kick-ass battery and he’s going to see if it will fit in this car. 

Although I won’t miss the Ford, I gotta admit it was not only very comfortable but was very reliable during the 7 years we’ve had it. It has a lot of little things wrong with it and Tom figured out what the knocking sound is that he’s been hearing when he slows down. He knew it was connected to the breaks, obviously, but I guess it has to do with cylinders and pads rubbing against each other. In February, when it comes time to relicense it, we’ll decide if it’s worth keeping as a backup or not. He has roadside assistance so that if the Caddy does break down they’ll tow it for nothing. There are other “amenities” of sorts and special treatment it gets I guess just for being a luxury car. 

Now to go over some of the features, though there are so many I’m sure I’ll forget some. The most important thing is reliability. The cool features are just a bonus. The reason he opted for an older lux car instead of a newer economy car was that then we’d be more likely to get a working AC for the amount we wanted to spend. I hated not having an AC in the summers even though it’s not nearly as unbearable as down in the desert. I also hate how open windows make my hair whip into my face and even my lip gloss. 

My parents always had Cadillacs and Lincolns, but the Caddy they had in the 70s looks nothing like this. Theirs was huge and ugly. It was a dull and flat ugly yellowy gold and the back sides kind of stuck up like fins. Might’ve been the El Dorado. 

Anyway, the dealership started to piss Tom off that he almost left. They were being pushy with trying to get names and addresses supposedly for credit. Over and over Tom had to tell them “no,” since he didn’t need to worry about his credit because he had a check in his hand to pay for the thing in full. He knew what they really wanted was a mailing list. When he threatened to walk out, they finally shut up. I hate pushy people! Be it those trying to cram religion down my throat or to get me to do/be something I’m not interested in pisses me off almost as much as being lied to. I have close to zero tolerance for those types and will dump them almost as fast as I would a bipolar, delusional nutjob. 

Anyway, the speedometer and that area look cool cuz it’s 3D, so the red needle is in front of the green letters and numbers underneath. It can go 140 MPH, though I can’t imagine where you’d drive that fast. It has an alarm, tells you when it’s time to change the oil, the engine’s temp, if the battery’s low, a million ways to adjust the steering wheel and seats, sensors in back to help warn you if you’re going to back into something, and basically the same things newer cars have, but that’s cool to one who has yet to experience these fun extras. 

There’s a digital compass in the rearview mirror, you can warm it up via remote from inside the house before you go out in colder weather. No LED headlights, but it’s got halogen lights which are pretty bright, and heated back seats. Can’t imagine anyone ever being back there, though, other than Andy when we pick him up from the airport, LOL. 

One of the coolest things – again, I know this has gotten pretty standard, but it’s new to us – is the dual AC zone. It has a digital temp display that can be adjusted individually. So Tom could be 76° if he wanted to be while I was 78°. I believe the back has its own adjuster too, in back of the front seat that you can program. It has tinted windows which are nice and is thunder gray. Boring but not ugly like I thought it’d be. It’s amazingly shiny and when you look at it in the direct sunlight you can see glitter in it that’s way cool. 

No GPS screen, but surprisingly it has a CD player AND a cassette deck. I’m surprised because it’s an ’03, not a ’93, but I guess Cadillac tends to cater to older folks, LOL. I’m just glad we don’t live in a seedy neighborhood with no garage! 

The trunk is nice and roomy. When he showed it to me I said, “Wow, you could fit two bodies in there,” and then Tom jokingly replied, “Yeah, that’s what I always look for when I buy a new car; how many bodies I can fit in the trunk. When you accidentally lock yourself in it, just pull this lever.” 

I thought he was joking at first, but sure enough, there really is a lever you can pull, haha. 

Again, I know you guys are probably rolling your eyes saying, “But all cars have that these days,” but it also has what I call a grocery net. It’s to hold things securely in the trunk. 

It’s 5” wider than the Taurus and 7” longer, though it doesn’t seem it. It gets about the same mileage gas-wise as the Taurus. So it’s not a gas-guzzler but not a great deal either. He paid $60 to fill it up when we went out earlier. 

Not sure but I think that as with newer cars, it may have a voice that tells you when you’re low on gas besides just words that indicate it, but I’m not positive on that one. 

One really cool thing is that not only does any music playing get louder the more traffic noise it detects, but if you set the fan speed of the heat/AC to auto, the fan speeds up as the car gets warmer when you’re using the AC, then slows down when it gets cooler. Again, I’m guessing this is standard in ‘05s and up, but new to us. 

The leather seats are firmer and more comfortable than the Ford’s cloth seats, but I prefer cloth to leather because the leather burns when it’s really hot. I can easily get a cushion for my side later on. 

It has this thing where Tom could program the gate code, but the idiots forgot to enclose the extra key. They’re mailing it to us. I guess you can’t just go get duplicates cuz there’s a transmitter inside the key that needs to be programmed to match the car. Plus you have to go through a series of maneuvers to get it to work the first time. Like locking and unlocking the doors 3 times, lowering the window twice, etc. 

The ride is way smoother. The car doesn’t rock like the Taurus would if you hit a bump. I feel silly going on and on about all these wonderful features that are now pretty standard, but that’s how long we had to do without these extras in life. Hell, I still can’t believe I can walk up to a readily hooked-up and available full-size washer anytime I want!